about Rick Miller

RICK MILLER is a Dora and Gemini award-winning writer/performer based in Toronto, Canada.  He trained in Montreal as an architect, actor, musician, and playwright, and has performed in five languages on five continents. For 3 years, Rick hosted ABC’s hit primetime series “Just for Laughs”, and Entertainment Weekly has called him “one of the 100 most creative people alive today”.  As artistic director of WYRD Productions, an internationally-acclaimed company devoted to multi-disciplinary theatre, he has created and performed shows such as Art?, Slightly Bent, Into the Ring (co-created with Dawson Nichols), and the worldwide hit MacHomer.  The two latest WYRD Productions have been co-creations with award-winning director Daniel Brooks and Necessary Angel Theatre Company: Bigger Than Jesus and HARDSELL.  Rick is also a frequent collaborator with renowned director Robert Lepage, having worked on such plays as La Géométrie des Miracles, Zulu Time (co-created with Peter Gabriel), on the film Possible Worlds, and on the 9-hour play Lipsynch, now touring internationally.  Here are some of the shows Rick and WYRD are touring and/or developing:

LIPSYNCH:  Robert Lepage, Rick Miller and 8 other actor/writers from around the world have created this monumental 9-hour production that has toured Canada, the USA, the UK, France, Spain, Australia, Russia, Austria, Italy and Taiwan.  Upcoming dates in 2012: Melbourne, Australia.

MacHomer:  160 cities, 700+ performances, over 500 000 fans... Few solo shows have enjoyed the runaway success of Rick Miller’s MacHomer, a hilarious mash-up of “the Simpsons” and Macbeth.   Continuing in 2011-12: a new MacHomer DVD (finally), multimedia educational modules and a 16th anniversary tour, featuring a month at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.

Bigger Than Jesus:  Rick Miller and Daniel Brooks’ internationally-acclaimed solo show, (winner of 3 Dora Awards in 2005) has been touring internationally since 2004. Miller has performed the show in 4 languages: English, French, German and Italian, and a feature documentary is currently in development.  In 2011-12, look for runs in Toronto, NY and Montreal.

HARDSELL:  The second Miller/Brooks (and WYRD/Necessary Angel) collaboration received its world premiere in Toronto in April 2009 at Canadian Stage Theatre.  Miller has adapted the controversial play into a riveting 'performance/lecture' that boldly examines the commodification of everything and the lies inherent in advertising.  This new version had a test run at IdeaCity in Toronto in June 2011, and will premiere at the Factory Theatre in Toronto in Oct 2012. 

BOOM!:  Part explosive performance, part riveting documentary (and part nostalgia trip!), this show currently in development will feature Miller in a tour-de-force performance that captures and recreates the defining moments of the baby boom era (1945-67).  In development throughout 2011-2012 as a radio show, as a series of internet videos, as a stage performance and possibly a documentary.

MONEY:  A multi-disciplinary ensemble piece exploring the concept of money.  Drawing from his many collective collaborations with Robert Lepage, Miller will lead a multi-talented cast of writer/performers to create an original play themed on money:  what it is, what we do for it and what it does to us.  Development will continue into 2012 and 2013.        

Rick is one of Canada’s most respected multi-disciplinary performers, with credits ranging from classical theatre to the avant-garde, from musicals to live comedy, from voice work to film & television. He has been called “one of Canada’s most dazzling performers” (Toronto Star), and the “most virtuosic voice in the country” (Edmonton Journal). Rick’s many voices can be heard in hit cartoons such as Atomic Betty (Sparky), My Big Big Friend (Bongo) and Magi-Nation (Orwin, Freep, Ashio).  He lives in Toronto with his wife Stephanie Baptist and their 2 daughters.